Editing Denis Healey (section)

==Political career==

===Early career===
Healey joined the Labour Party. Still in uniform, he gave a strongly left-wing speech to the Labour Party conference in 1945, declaring, "the upper classes in every country are selfish, depraved, dissolute and decadent"<ref>M. Andrews. 'Life in the shadow of Victory' in History Mag (BBC), January 2015, pp. 31–32.</ref> shortly before the [[1945 United Kingdom general election|general election]] in which he narrowly failed to win the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]]-held seat of [[Pudsey and Otley]], doubling the Labour vote but losing by 1,651 votes.<ref>{{cite book |last=Craig |first=F. W. S. |author-link= F. W. S. Craig |title=British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 |orig-year=1969 |edition= 3rd |year=1983 |publisher= Parliamentary Research Services |location=Chichester |isbn= 978-0-900178-06-1}}</ref>

He became secretary of the international department of the Labour Party in 1945, becoming a foreign policy adviser to Labour leaders and establishing contacts with socialists across Europe.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Thorpe |first=Andrew |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-1-349-25305-0 |title=A History of the British Labour Party |date=1997 |publisher=Macmillan Education UK |isbn=978-0-333-56081-5 |location=London |pages=106 |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-1-349-25305-0 |ref=None}}</ref> He was a strong opponent of the [[Communist Party of Great Britain]] at home and the [[Soviet Union]] internationally.<ref>Lawrence Black, "'The Bitterest Enemies of Communism': Labour Revisionists, Atlanticism and the Cold War." ''Contemporary British History'' 15#3 (2001): 26–62.</ref> From 1948 to 1960 he was a councillor for the [[Royal Institute of International Affairs]] and the [[International Institute for Strategic Studies]] from 1958 until 1961. He was a member of the [[Fabian Society]] executive from 1954 until 1961. Healey used his position as the Labour Party's International Secretary to promote the [[Korean War]] on behalf of British state propagandists,<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book|last=Jenks|first=John|title=British Propaganda and News Media in the Cold War|publisher=Edinburgh|year=2006|isbn=|location=Edinburgh|page=105}}</ref> used [[British intelligence agencies]] to attack Marxist leaders within [[Trade unions in the United Kingdom|UK trade unions]],<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Lashmar|first1=Paul|title=Britain's Secret Propaganda War 1948–1977|last2=Oliver|first2=James|publisher=Sutton Publishing|year=1988|isbn=|pages=86}}</ref> and to exploit his position in government to publish his books through IRD propaganda fronts.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Lashmar|first1=Paul|title=Britain's Secret Propaganda War 1948–1977|last2=Oliver|first2=James|publisher=Sutton Publishing|year=1988|isbn=|location=Sutton Mill|pages=100}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Jenks|first=John|title=British Propaganda and News Media in the Cold War|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|year=200|isbn=|location=Edinburgh|pages=70–71}}</ref>

Healey was one of the leading players in the Königswinter conference that was organised by [[Lilo Milchsack]]  that was credited with helping to heal the bad memories after the end of the Second World War. Healey met [[Hans von Herwarth]], the ex soldier [[Fridolin von Senger und Etterlin]] and future German President [[Richard von Weizsäcker]] and other leading [[West German]] decision makers. The conference also included other leading British thinkers like [[Richard Crossman]] and the journalist [[Robin Day]].<ref>[http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/15th-august-1992/41/long-life Long Life: Presiding Genius], [[Nigel Nicolson]], 15 August 1992, ''The Spectator'', Retrieved 28 November 2015 ]</ref>

===Member of Parliament===
Healey was elected to the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]] as MP for [[Leeds South East]] at a [[1952 Leeds South East by-election|by-election in February 1952]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.by-elections.co.uk/52.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120225141840/http://www.by-elections.co.uk/52.html|title=1952 By Election Results|archive-date=25 February 2012|url-status=dead|access-date=13 August 2015}}</ref> with a majority of 7,000 votes. Following constituency boundary changes, he was elected for [[Leeds East]] at the [[1955 United Kingdom general election|1955 general election]], holding that seat until he retired as an MP in 1992. During these years, Healey was close friends with the Rev. Canon [[Ernest Southcott]], and Douglas Gabb, who would go on to become [[Lord Mayor of Leeds]].<ref>[https://archive.org/details/AlfGoesToWork ''Alf Goes To Work'' (1960)]</ref>

He was a moderate on the right during the series of splits in the Labour Party in the 1950s. He was a [[Gaitskellism|supporter]] and friend of [[Hugh Gaitskell]], Leader of the Labour Party. He persuaded Gaitskell to temper his initial support for British military action in 1956 when the [[Suez Canal]] was seized by the [[Nasserist Egypt]], resulting in the [[Suez Crisis]].<ref name="davidmckie">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/oct/03/lord-healey|title=Lord Healey obituary|author=McKie, David|work=The Guardian|location=London}}</ref> In [[1959 Labour Party Shadow Cabinet election|1959]] he was elected on to the [[Shadow Cabinet of Hugh Gaitskell|Shadow Cabinet]] where he was made the deputy to the [[Shadow Foreign Secretary]], [[Aneurin Bevan]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Labor Shadow Cabinet Puts Young Members In Key Posts |url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=vSpgAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA12&dq=shadow+Denis+Healey&article_id=5600,2119633&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiD7aPj2fuMAxWci_0HHWWhOn4Q6AF6BAgHEAM#v=onepage&q=shadow%20Denis%20Healey&f=false |access-date=28 April 2025 |work=Saskatoon Star-Phoenix |agency=Reuters |date=16 November 1959 |location=London |page=12}}</ref>

When Gaitskell died in 1963, he was horrified at the idea of Gaitskell's volatile deputy, [[George Brown, Baron George-Brown|George Brown]], leading Labour, saying "He was like immortal Jemima; when he was good he was very good but when he was bad he was horrid". In the [[1963 Labour Party leadership election (UK)|1963 Labour Party leadership election]], he voted for [[James Callaghan]] in the first ballot and [[Harold Wilson]] in the second. Healey thought Wilson would unite the Labour Party and lead it to victory in the next general election. He didn't think Brown was capable of doing either. He was appointed [[Shadow Secretary of State for Defence]] after the creation of the position in 1964.

===Defence Secretary===
Following Labour's victory in the [[1964 United Kingdom general election|1964 general election]], Healey served as [[Secretary of State for Defence]] under Prime Minister Harold Wilson. He was responsible for 450,000 [[British Armed Forces]] uniformed servicemen and women, and for 406,000 civil servants stationed around the globe. He was best known for his economising, liquidating most of Britain's military role outside of Europe and cancelling expensive projects. The cause was not a fiscal crisis but rather a decision to shift money and priorities to the domestic budget and maintain a commitment to [[NATO]].<ref>Edward Longinotti,  "Britain's Withdrawal from East of Suez: From Economic Determinism to Political Choice." ''Contemporary British History'' 29#3 (2015): 318–340.  {{doi|10.1080/13619462.2014.974567}}</ref> He cut [[Military budget|defence expenditure]], scrapping the carrier {{HMS|Centaur|R06|6}} and the reconstructed {{HMS|Victorious|R38|6}} in 1967, cancelling the proposed [[CVA-01]] [[Fleet carrier|fleet-carrier]] replacement and, just before Labour's defeat in 1970, downgrading {{HMS|Hermes|R12|6}} to a [[commando carrier]]. He cancelled the fifth planned [[Polaris (UK nuclear programme)|Polaris]] submarine. He also cancelled the production of the [[Hawker Siddeley P.1154]] and [[Armstrong Whitworth AW.681|HS 681]] aircraft and, more controversially, both the production of the [[BAC TSR-2]] and subsequent purchase of the [[F-111]] in lieu.<ref name="D. Healey, 1990">D. Healey, ''Time of My Life'' (Penguin, 1990).</ref><ref name="1966 Defence Review">1966 Defence Review.</ref>

Of the scrapped [[Royal Navy]] [[aircraft carriers]], Healey commented that to most ordinary seamen they were just "floating slums" and "too vulnerable".<ref name="D. Healey, 1990"/><ref name="1966 Defence Review"/> He continued postwar Conservative governments' reliance on strategic and tactical nuclear deterrence for the Navy, RAF and [[West Germany]] and supported the sale of advanced arms abroad, including to regimes such as those in [[Pahlavi Iran]], [[History of Libya under Muammar Gaddafi|Libya]], [[Military dictatorship of Chile (1973–1990)|Chile]], and [[apartheid South Africa]], to which he supplied nuclear-capable [[Blackburn Buccaneer|Buccaneer S.2]] strike bombers and approved a repeat order. This brought him into serious conflict with Wilson, who had, initially, also supported the policy. Healey later said he had made the wrong decision on selling arms to [[South Africa]].<ref name="davidmckie"/>

In January 1968, a few weeks after the [[Pound sterling#Bretton Woods|devaluation of the pound]], Wilson and Healey announced that the two large British fleet carriers HMS ''Ark Royal'' and HMS ''Eagle'' would be scrapped in 1972. They also announced that British troops would be withdrawn in 1971 and the British military and navy bases in [[South East Asia]], "[[East of Suez|East of Aden]]", closed, large facilities in [[Malaysia]] and Singapore and the [[Persian Gulf]] and the [[Maldives]].<ref name="ES-H-10">[http://usir.salford.ac.uk/1712/1/What_Now_for_Britain.pdf "What Now for Britain?"] The State Department's Intelligence Assessment of the "Special Relationship," 7 February 1968 by Jonathan Colman.</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=P. L. Pham|title=Ending 'East of Suez': The British Decision to Withdraw from Malaysia and Singapore 1964–1968|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wy343pptNB4C&pg=PP22|year=2010|publisher=Oxford UP|page=22ff|isbn=9780191610431}}</ref> The next Prime Minister [[Edward Heath]] slowed the implementation of the policy, with 5/6 frigates on station East of Suez until 1976, when Healey as Chancellor used the [[IMF crisis]] to withdraw the Royal Navy frigates attached to the [[Five Power Defence Arrangements]] squadron and the [[British Forces Overseas Hong Kong|Hong Kong Guard]] frigate, {{HMS|Chichester|F59|6}}.<ref> After that a presence was maintained by bi annual summer naval task forces and the restoration of the [[Armilla Patrol]] in 1979/80 </ref> Healey also authorised the removal of the [[Chagossians]] from the [[Chagos Archipelago]] and authorised the building of the [[Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia|United States military base]] at [[Diego Garcia]]. Following Labour's defeat in the [[1970 United Kingdom general election|1970 general election]], he became Shadow Defence Secretary.

===Chancellor of the Exchequer===
Healey was appointed [[Shadow Chancellor]] in April 1972 after [[Roy Jenkins]] resigned in a row over the [[European Economic Community]] (Common Market). At the Labour Party conference on 1 October 1973, he said, "I warn you that there are going to be howls of anguish from those rich enough to pay over 75% on their last slice of earnings".<ref>''The Times'', Tuesday, 2 October 1973; p. 1; Issue 58902; col A.</ref> In a speech in Lincoln on 18 February 1974, Healey went further, promising he would "squeeze property speculators until the pips squeak". He alleged that [[Lord Carrington]], the Conservative Secretary of State for Energy, had made £10m profit from selling [[agricultural land]] at prices 30 to 60 times as high as it would command as farming land.<ref>''The Times'', Tuesday, 19 February 1974; p. 4; Issue 59018; col D.</ref> When accused by colleagues including [[Eric Heffer]] of putting Labour's chances of winning the next election in jeopardy through his tax proposals, Healey said the party and the country must face the consequences of Labour's policy of the [[redistribution of income and wealth]]; "That is what our policy is, the party must face the realities of it".<ref>''The Times'', Thursday, 18 October 1973; p. 2; Issue 58916; col C.</ref>

Healey became [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]] in March 1974 after Labour returned to power as a minority government. His tenure is sometimes divided into ''Healey Mark I'' and ''Healey Mark II''.<ref>Michael Stewart''The Jekyll and Hyde Years: Politics and Economic Policy since 1964'' (1977).</ref> The divide is marked by his decision, taken with Prime Minister [[James Callaghan]], to seek an [[International Monetary Fund]] (IMF) loan and submit the [[1976 sterling crisis|British economy]] to IMF supervision. The loan was negotiated and agreed in November and December 1976, and announced in Parliament on 15 December 1976.<ref>[http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/osp9.pdf] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071120044611/http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/osp9.pdf|date=20 November 2007}}</ref><ref>[http://www.group30.org/pubs/pub_0634.pdf] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080820045641/http://www.group30.org/pubs/pub_0634.pdf|date=20 August 2008}}</ref> Within some parts of the Labour Party the transition from Healey Mark I (which had seen a proposal for a [[wealth tax]]) to Healey Mark II (associated with government-specified [[Wage controls|wage control]]) was regarded as a betrayal. Healey's policy of increasing benefits for the poor meant those earning over £4,000 per year would be taxed more heavily. His first budget saw increases in [[food subsidies]], [[Pensions in the United Kingdom|pensions]] and other benefits.<ref>Eric Shaw, ''The Labour Party since 1945'' (1996).</ref>

When [[Harold Wilson]] stood down as [[Leader of the Labour Party (UK)|Leader of the Labour Party]] in 1976, Healey stood in the [[1976 Labour Party leadership election|contest to elect the new leader]]. On the first ballot he came only fifth out of six candidates. However, he also contested the second round, coming third of the three candidates but increasing his vote somewhat.

===Deputy Leader of the Labour Party===
Labour lost the [[1979 United Kingdom general election|general election]] to the Conservatives, led by [[Margaret Thatcher]] in May 1979, following the [[Winter of Discontent]] during which Britain had faced a large number of strikes. On 12 June 1979, Healey was appointed a [[Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour]].<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=47868 |date=15 June 1979 |page=7600  |supp=y}}</ref> He won the most votes in the [[1979 Labour Party Shadow Cabinet election|1979 Shadow Cabinet elections]] which followed and ''[[The Glasgow Herald]]'' suggested that this showed that he was the "strongest contender" to succeed Callaghan as [[Leader of the Labour Party (UK)|Leader of the Labour Party]].<ref name="GH15061979">{{cite news |last1=Parkhouse |first1=Geoffrey |title=Shore steps up as Owen is demoted |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=GGgVawPscysC&dat=19790615&printsec=frontpage&hl=en |access-date=8 January 2019 |work=The Glasgow Herald |date=15 June 1979}}</ref>

When Callaghan stood down as Labour Party leader in November 1980, Healey was the favourite to win the [[1980 Labour Party leadership election (UK)|leadership election]], decided by Labour MPs. In September, an opinion poll had found that when asked who would make the best prime minister if Healey were Labour leader, 45% chose Healey over 39% for Thatcher.<ref>'Mr Healey tops opinion poll in leadership vote', ''The Times'' (8 September 1980), p. 3.</ref> However, he lost to [[Michael Foot]]. He seems to have taken the support of the right of the party for granted; in one notable incident, Healey was reputed to have told the right-wing [[The Manifesto Group|Manifesto Group]] they must vote for him as they had "nowhere else to go". When [[Michael Thomas (politician)|Mike Thomas]], the MP for [[Newcastle upon Tyne East (UK Parliament constituency)|Newcastle East]] defected to the [[Social Democratic Party (UK)|Social Democratic Party]] (SDP), he said he had been tempted to send Healey a telegram saying he had found "somewhere else to go". Four Labour MPs who defected to the SDP in early 1981 later said they voted for Foot in order to give the Labour Party an unelectable left-wing leader, thus helping their newly established party.<ref>Crewe, Ivor and King, Anthony, ''SDP: The Birth, Life and Death of the Social Democratic Party'' (Oxford University Press, 1995), pp. 74–75.</ref>

In an essay addressing why Healey did not become Prime Minister or Labour leader, [[Steve Richards]] states that in 1980 Healey, not Foot, was widely expected by the media and many political figures to be the next Labour leader.<ref name="SRichardspp100-101">{{cite book |last1=Richards |first1=Steve |title=The Prime Ministers We Never Had; Success and Failure from Butler to Corbyn |date=2021 |publisher=Atlantic Books |location=London |isbn=978-1-83895-241-9 |pages=100–101}}</ref> Richards also notes that by that point, his main rivals as leaders from the right of the party, [[Roy Jenkins]] and [[Anthony Crosland]], were no longer in contention for the position, with the former out of Parliament and the latter having died in 1977.<ref name="SRichardsp116">{{cite book |last1=Richards |first1=Steve |title=The Prime Ministers We Never Had; Success and Failure from Butler to Corbyn |date=2021 |publisher=Atlantic Books |location=London |isbn=978-1-83895-241-9 |page= 116}}</ref> However, he also argues that while "Healey was widely seen as the obvious successor to Callaghan", and that sections of the media ultimately reacted with "disbelief" at Labour not choosing him to be their leader, the decision to opt for Foot "was not as perverse as it seemed". He argues that Labour MPs were looking for a figure from the left who could unite the wider party with the leadership, which Healey could not do. Richards believes that Foot was not a "tribal politician" and had proved he could work with those of different ideologies and had been a loyal deputy to Callaghan and so came to be "seen as the unity candidate" which allowed him to defeat Healey.<ref name="SRichardspp116-119">{{cite book |last1=Richards |first1=Steve |title=The Prime Ministers We Never Had; Success and Failure from Butler to Corbyn |date=2021 |publisher=Atlantic Books |location=London |isbn=978-1-83895-241-9 |pages=116–119}}</ref>

Healey was returned unopposed as deputy leader to Foot, but the next year was challenged by [[Tony Benn]] under the new election system, one in which individual members and trades unions voted alongside sitting members of Parliament. The contest was seen as a battle for the soul of the Labour Party, and the long debate over the summer of 1981 ended on 27 September with Healey winning by 50.4% to Benn's 49.6%.<ref>{{Cite news |date=28 September 1981 |title=Right-winger wins British election |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8324169/denis_healey/ |newspaper=The Galveston Daily News |location=Galveston, TX |agency=[[United Press International]] |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |access-date=1 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190102005317/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8324169/denis_healey/ |archive-date=2 January 2019 |url-status=live }} {{Open access}}</ref> The narrowness of Healey's majority can be attributed to the [[Transport and General Workers' Union]] (TGWU) delegation to the Labour Party conference. Ignoring its members, who had shown two-to-one majority support for Healey, it cast the union's block vote (the largest in the union section) for Benn. A significant factor in Benn's narrow loss, however, was the abstention of 20 MPs from the left-wing [[Tribune (magazine)|Tribune Group]],<ref>{{cite book|title=Labour's Future: Socialist or SDP Mark 2?|author=Eric Heffer|publisher=[[Verso]]|year=1986|pages=28–29|author-link=Eric Heffer}}</ref> which split as a result. Healey attracted just enough support from other unions, [[Constituency Labour Parties]], and Labour MPs to win.

Healey was [[Shadow Foreign Secretary]] during most of the 1980s, a job he coveted. He believed Foot was initially too willing to support [[Falklands War|military action]] after the [[Falkland Islands]] were invaded by [[Argentina]] in April 1982.<ref name="davidmckie"/> He accused Thatcher of "glorying in slaughter", and had to withdraw the remark (he later claimed he had meant to say "conflict"). Healey was retained in the [[Shadow Cabinet of Neil Kinnock|shadow cabinet]] by [[Neil Kinnock]], who succeeded Foot following the disastrous [[1983 United Kingdom general election|1983 general election]], when the Conservatives bolstered their majority and Labour suffered their worst general election result in decades. Healey had declined to run as leader to succeed Foot and stood down as deputy leader.

===Retirement===
Healey's views on [[nuclear weapons]] conflicted with the [[unilateral nuclear disarmament]] policy of the Labour Party. After the [[1987 United Kingdom general election|1987 general election]], he retired from the Shadow Cabinet, and in 1992 stood down after 40 years as a Leeds MP. In that year he received a [[life peerage]] as '''''Baron Healey''', of [[Riddlesden]] in the [[West Yorkshire|County of West Yorkshire]]''.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=52979 |date=2 July 1992 |page=11141 }}</ref> Healey was regarded by some – especially in the Labour Party – as "the best Prime Minister we never had".<ref>{{citation|url=http://education.independent.co.uk/careers_advice/article361683.ece|title=Passed/failed: An education in the life of Denis Healey, Labour peer|newspaper=[[The Independent]]|date=4 May 2006|first=Jonathan|last=Sale|access-date=28 April 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070815215511/http://education.independent.co.uk/careers_advice/article361683.ece|archive-date=15 August 2007|df=dmy-all}}</ref> He was a founding member of the [[Bilderberg Group]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/Archive/Article/0,4273,4149485,00.html|title=Who pulls the strings? (part 3)|last=Ronson|first=Jon|author-link=Jon Ronson|date=10 March 2001|work=[[The Guardian]]|access-date=4 July 2009 | location=London}}</ref> He was interviewed on his role as a co-founder of the Bilderberg Group by [[Jon Ronson]] for the book ''[[Them: Adventures with Extremists]].''<ref>{{Cite book|title=Them : adventures with extremists|last=Ronson |first=Jon|date=2002|publisher=Simon & Schuster|isbn=978-0-7432-2707-0|location=New York|oclc=47831472}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/mar/10/extract1|title=Who pulls the strings? (part 3)|author=Guardian Staff|date=2001-03-10|work=The Guardian|access-date=2019-12-16|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

During an interview with [[Nick Clarke]] on [[BBC Radio 4]], Healey was the first Labour politician to publicly declare his wish for the Labour leadership to pass to [[Tony Blair]] in 1994, following the death of [[John Smith (Labour Party leader)|John Smith]]. Healey later became critical of Blair. He publicly opposed Blair's decision to use military force in [[Kosovo War|Kosovo]], [[War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)|Afghanistan]], and [[Iraq War|Iraq]].<ref name="davidmckie"/> In the spring of 2004, and again in 2005, he publicly called on Blair to stand down in favour of [[Gordon Brown]]. In July 2006 he argued, "Nuclear weapons are infinitely less important in our [[Foreign policy of the United Kingdom|foreign policy]] than they were in the days of the [[Cold War]]", and, "I don't think we need [[Nuclear weapons of the United Kingdom|nuclear weapons]] any longer".<ref>{{cite news | title=UK needs no nuclear arms – Healey|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/5158618.stm | date=7 July 2006 | access-date=13 January 2007 | work=BBC News}}</ref>

In March 2013 during an interview with the ''[[New Statesman]]'', Healey said that if there was a [[2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum|referendum on British membership of the EU]], he would vote to leave.<ref>Rafael Behr, '[http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-politics/2013/03/thatcher-was-good-looking-and-brilliant Denis Healey: "Thatcher was good-looking and brilliant"]', ''New Statesman'' (26 March 2013).</ref> In May, he further said: "I wouldn't object strongly to leaving the [[EU]]. The advantages of being members of the union are not obvious. The disadvantages are very obvious. I can see the case for leaving – the case for leaving is stronger than for staying in".<ref>Michael Crick, '[http://blogs.channel4.com/michael-crick-on-politics/healey-case-for-leaving-europe-stronger-than-staying/2494 Healey: case for leaving Europe stronger than staying]', ''Channel 4'' (9 May 2013).</ref>

Following the death of [[Alan Campbell, Baron Campbell of Alloway]], in June 2013, Healey became the oldest sitting member of the [[House of Lords]].<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.parliament.uk/about/faqs/house-of-lords-faqs/lords-members| title = House of Lords, Official Website – Who is the oldest sitting Member of the House of Lords?| access-date = 5 July 2013}}</ref> Following the death of [[John Freeman (British politician)|John Freeman]] on 20 December 2014, Healey became the surviving former MP with the earliest date of first election, and the second-oldest surviving former MP, after [[Ronald Atkins]].

===Public image===
Healey's notably bushy eyebrows and piercing wit earned him a favourable reputation with the public. When the media were not present, his humour was equally caustic but more risqué. The popular impressionist [[Mike Yarwood]] coined the catchphrase "Silly Billy", and incorporated it into his shows as a supposed "Healey-ism". Healey had never said it until that point, but he adopted it and used it frequently. Healey's direct speech made enemies. "At a meeting of the PLP I accused [[Ian Mikardo]] of being 'out of his tiny Chinese mind' – a phrase of the comedienne [[Hermione Gingold]], with which I thought everyone was familiar. On the contrary, when it leaked to the press, the [[Embassy of China, London|Chinese Embassy]] took it as an insult to the [[People's Republic of China|People's Republic]]."<ref>Denis Healey. ''The Time of My Life'', Penguin 1990, p. 444.</ref> The controversy may have contributed to a poor performance when he fought for [[1976 Labour Party leadership election|the Labour leadership]] following [[Harold Wilson]]'s resignation.{{citation needed|date=May 2021}}

Healey's long-serving deputy at the Treasury, [[Joel Barnett]], in response to a remark by a third party that "Denis Healey would sell his own grandmother", quipped, "No, he would get me to do it for him". On 14 June 1978, Healey likened being attacked by the mild-mannered [[Sir Geoffrey Howe]] in the [[British House of Commons|House of Commons]] to being "savaged by a dead sheep".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1978/jun/14/economic-situation#S5CV0951P0_19780614_HOC_159|date=14 June 1978|title=Economic Situation, HC Deb 14 June 1978 vol 951 cc1013-142|work=[[Hansard|Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)]]}}</ref> Nevertheless, Howe appeared and paid warm tribute when Healey was featured on ''[[This Is Your Life (UK TV series)|This Is Your Life]]'' in 1989.{{Citation needed|date=September 2021}} The two remained friends for many years, and Howe died only six days after Healey.